Tejashwi takes tough stance on women's reservation bill

The "edifice" of the ruling BJP at the Centre "would be reduced to rubble" if the rights of "aware and assertive" OBCs were infringed upon through the women's reservation bill, warned Bihar deputy chief minister Tejashwi Yadav.

On Thursday (September 21), the young RJD leader also questioned the intent of the Narendra Modi government in bringing the bill, which states that the quotas would be implemented only after a fresh delimitation which would follow a yet to-be-held census.

"The OBCs comprise nearly 60 per cent of the total population. I would like to make it clear that if any attempt is made to violate their share, they know how to claim it," Yadav told PTI video.

Socially aware class

He also said, "It is a socially aware class which knows how to fight for its rights. Any nefarious attempt to this end would result in the whole edifice being reduced to rubble."

Yadav's fulminations betrayed the anxiety that the bill could adversely affect numerically powerful OBCs, unless it was ensured that women from the social group got a proportional representation.

Alleging that the BJP indulged in "sectarian politics" (dharm ki rajniti), Yadav said, "The bill seems to have been brought to fool the people. We have never before seen a legislation that promises implementation in the remote future."

"The census, which should have been held in 2021, has not been conducted. If it begins soon after Lok Sabha polls, followed immediately by delimitation, even then the entire process is unlikely to be complete before 2029-30," claimed Yadav.

Lalu Prasad's strident stance

Notably, the RJD, founded by its supremo Lalu Prasad, one of the Mandal heroes, has taken a more strident stance on the women's reservation bill compared with allies like Congress and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar's JD(U).

Both the Congress and the JD(U), while being in agreement with the demand that representation be assured for women from weaker sections, voted in favour of the bill when it was passed in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

The RJD, at present, has no members in the Lower House of Parliament. Its combative Rajya Sabha MP Manoj Jha has made it clear that unless "quota within quota" was introduced for OBC women, the bill would be "pointless".

(With inputs from agencies)